Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, equipment, and manpower, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance. Additionally, expanding or reducing the size or capabilities of many inventory systems requires significant changes to existing infrastructure and equipment. As a result, the cost of incremental changes to capacity or functionality may be prohibitively expensive, limiting the ability of the system to accommodate fluctuations in system throughput.
Entities that utilize inventory systems may elect to automate those systems (e.g., via the use of robotics). This often results in the inventory system needing to track and manage a number of components (robots, sensors, workstations, etc.) connected to the inventory system (whether connected via wireless or direct physical connection). Accordingly, even a small increase in the number of components of the inventory management system may result in a large increase in the amount of bandwidth and/or processing power needed by the inventory management system.